Nata Bird Sanctuary

Our morning started with a breakfast with our full crew at the Waterfront Lodge in Maun. We made a quick provisioning stop then proceeded to Bushlore in Maun to return one of our vehicles.

Farewell to Warthog

Julie, Karen, and I spent most of the time in this Land Cruiser, named Warthog by our companions. We wore the moniker proudly. Sad to see it go as it meant the end to this phase of the adventure and a return to the states for four of our crew.

Construction work on A3

Karen, Ken and I left the group at Bushlore to hit the road going east and south along the A3, a road we knew could be troublesome at times with potholes. The potholes are still there, but we saw a significant amount of road work in progress - maybe 3 or 4 separate crews - doing what appears to be solid long-term work on the road. Throwing 4 inches of asphalt on a sandy dirt bed won’t cut it with the amount of heavy vehicle traffic.

We made it to Nata Lodge, a place we stayed at and and loved two years ago. Not bothering to even claim a site, we immediately left the camp to head to Nata Bird Sanctuary to see the state of the preserve and the adjacent pans. If you check the post from two years ago you’ll see our vehicles parked at a viewing platform looking out over a massive dry pan bed.

Ostrich in plains with lesser flamingos

Things looked much the same as we entered and made our way to the pan, but as we approached we knew something was up: massive groups of white pelicans and lesser flamingos were present! I was confident there would be more water, but doubtful that these birds would hang around past their breeding season. They clearly decided to stay after the big rains earlier this year. The last time I saw flamingos in the wild was a distant view while in Galapagos.

Viewing platform over pan in Nata Bird Sanctuary

The place was vibrant with bird activities and I saw several new-to-me birds: lesser flamingo, red-knobbed coot, and cape shoveler. I walked into the pan water in a safe spot to see how deep it would get and it fell off regularly, reminding us that when we drove in two years ago it was a deep descent to get to the pan basin.

Wildebeest with flamingos

The mix of the usual suspects like wildebeest and ostrich combined with the massive groups of waterbirds made for an incredible experience. We roamed around until sunset loomed, revisiting all the corners of this park.